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Veterans.
in partnership with the Suffolk County office of veterans Affairs,
the College presented career, training and workforce development information to
over 500 returning veterans associated with Long island’s fighting 69th infantry
regiment. Twelve College staff members representing areas ranging from the
advanced manufacturing program, to culinary arts, to enrollment management were
there to answer questions about the College and its programs.
e College has formed a veterans Advisory Board. its purpose will be to assist in
efforts to enhance the higher education experiences enjoyed by current and future
veterans who attend Suffolk. Members of the College’s veterans Advisory Board will
advise the College on the unique needs of veteran students and their families,
identifying existing programs and resources on Long island that would benefit our
students, and recommending partnerships the College can pursue in support of our
veteran students. e membership of the veterans Advisory Board will consist of
representatives from the college community, government, labor, and community-
based organizations and will meet several times per year.
e unemployment rate for veterans returning from iraq and Afghanistan is 13.1
percent, significantly higher than the national average. So we were pleased to host
United States Congressman Steve israel as he announced new legislation to match
Post-9/11 veterans and Gi Bill recipients with community colleges for training.
e revamping the education of our veterans to Align Manufacturing through
Partnerships with Community Colleges (revAMP) Act, would include a skills gap
analysis to determine workforce needs and job vacancies that local manufacturing
companies have been unable to fill. Community colleges would develop curricula and
conduct targeted skills training to fill the gaps. working with the local vA and the
Department of Defense, community colleges would target iraq- and Afghanistan-era
veterans in the region for certificate or degree programs ranging from 24-weeks to
two years in the manufacturing sectors identified in the skills gap analysis. At the
completion of the training program, community colleges would connect veterans
with companies in need of their skills.
Partnership Development.
As part of our effort to address remediation issues in
our region, the College has engaged in a pilot program with an area high school
where faculty members from our eastern Campus work with the high school’s
teachers. Together, we share course content and expectations. initial results from the
2010-2011 pilot are encouraging. High School seniors who were enrolled in the
course entitled “Mathematics for the College Bound” were given a diagnostic exam
that indicated their strengths and weaknesses in content, similar to a college
placement test. A structured curriculum was then followed where students satisfied
any remediation they needed during their senior year in high school. After the initial
assessment test, intervention methods were implemented — including the use of an
artificial-intelligence learning software package in math, combined with a curriculum
that provides students with the skills that college-placement tests typically address in
math. is approach enabled us to address deficiencies and retest students during the
normal college application process. e initial results of the pilot indicated a 63%
increase in students testing into college-level courses, compared with the previous
year’s results for students from that high school who applied to Suffolk County
Community College.
our partnership with Long island University continues to expand. we have a satellite
building on our eastern Campus that accommodates some of LiU’s Bachelor’s and
Graduate degree programs. we are currently working on another partnership that will
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2011-2012 Review of Accomplishments
Students Mary Beth Kerstiens and Dimitri Hampton help
drive awareness about the College’s veterans’ programs.